Whether you want to go abroad for only one week, a quartile or half a year, there is an option for you! Most stages of your studies offer opportunities to go abroad. Mobility options can be separated into three main categories: course work, thesis assignment and internship. Besides these mobility options within your curriculum, some other options are given as well.
Note that you need to plan well ahead, so start thinking one year prior of your desired departure. You can contact your student adviser, track coordinator or mobility coordinator when you want to discuss your plans.
- Courses abroad (30 EC)
Typically this is a full semester abroad. During this semester you will be enrolled as an exchange student at a partner university of the UT. Because of special agreements we have with a number of universities, you can take classes free of tuition charges. In each BSc programme the so-called minor space (modules 9 & 10) can be used to spend a semester abroad. Approval of the list of subjects needs to be given by the student adviser. Following courses abroad during you MSc programme might be possible as well. In this case approval needs to be given by the Head your Research chair and/or the Examination Board.
- Graduation assignment (15 to 45 EC)
To complete a BSc or MSc programme a graduation or thesis assignment must be done. Each year a number of students arrange with their supervisors to perform (part of) their thesis work abroad. These possibilities are determined on a per-student basis and depend mainly on existing research contacts of your supervisors. Whether or not a (part of) your thesis work can be spend abroad is determined by the Examination Board and your graduation supervisor.
- Internship (15 to 20 EC)
An internship is usually a three to six month stay at a company or research institute. The main learning goal of an internship is to gain working experience, therefore an internship is sometimes called a work placement. For the MSc programmes Mechanical Engineering and Sustainable Energy Technology the internship is an obligatory part of the curriculum. For all other MSc programmes the internship can be chosen as an elective or as an extra-curricular activity. Whether the internship is obligatory or not, the internship can be done abroad, but it doesn’t have to be. For all BSc programmes it might be possible to do an internship in the so-called minor space (modules 8 & 9). If you are seriously thinking of not continuing in a MSc programme it is highly advised to do an internship as part of your BSc programme.
To do an internship you can register any time you want, hence there are NO application deadlines.
More information regarding the internship procedure within the ME and SET programmes can be found through the respective introductory pages:
ME: https://www.utwente.nl/me/master_programme/student_mobility/internship_me/
SET: https://www.utwente.nl/set/master_programme/student_mobility/internship_set/
For other programmes no formal internship websites exists. You can contact your educational coordinator.
- Other options
There are some more options for a short term international experiences, such as:
Summer school
Many universities offer Summer schools similar to CuriousU at the University of Twente. A Summer school can be done as part of your minor space. Click here for an overview of Summer schools on a central UT website or here for some Summerschool links on the ET website.
Study Tour
The study associations related to the Faculty of Engineering Technology regularly organise International Study Tours. For more information you can visit the websites of the study associations:
- ConcepT: Civiele Techniek, Civil Engineering & Management, Construction Management & Engineering
- S.G. Daedalus: Industrial Design, Industrial Design Enginering
- W.S.G. Isaac Newton: Werktuigbouwkunde, Mechanical Engineering, Sustainable Engineering Technology
International competition
Quite a number of international organisations regularly organise international engineering competitions, such as:
- EBEC (BEST Engineering Competition in Europe) , organised by BEST (Board of European Students of Technology)
- Drop your thesis! - one of the many educational activities of the European Space Agency
- search for other competitions via this website